December 11, 2005

British fire crews to battle oil depot blaze

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (Reuters) - Fire crews in southern England
are to begin fighting one of Europe's biggest peace time blazes
on Monday after a wave of explosions ripped through a fuel
depot.

A spectacular plume of smoke turned the sky black for miles
around after blasts caused widespread damage and started a
blaze which sent fireballs shooting into the air early on
Sunday.

Police said it was too early to say what caused the
explosions, which injured 43 people, one seriously, although
they said it appeared to be an accident.

The blasts, reportedly heard up to 100 miles away,
initially raised fears of a possible repeat of the deadly wave
of suicide bombings in London in July.

"We all thought it could be a terrorist attack," builder
Ricky Clarke, who lives near the depot near the town of Hemel
Hempstead, north of London, told the Daily Mail newspaper.
"Everyone was really panicking and just getting in their cars
and going."

A truck driver queuing at the Buncefield depot to fill his
lorry with fuel said he and some colleagues had had a
"miraculous" escape.

"There was just a massive, massive explosion," Terry Hine
told Sky News television. "The force of the blast threw all of
us forward onto the floor."

Chief fire officer, Roy Wilsher, said it was the largest
fire he had ever seen.

"We have been informed by experts that this is possibly the
largest incident of this kind in peace time Europe," he said.

FIRE CREWS MOVE IN

After containing the fire on Sunday, more than 150
firefighters were ready to start putting it out with a blanket
of foam early on Monday, a police spokeswoman said.

About 2,000 people living near the depot were evacuated,
main roads were closed and some flights into London's Heathrow
airport were delayed.

British newspapers cleared their pages for scores of
pictures of the fire under headlines such as "Vision of
Doomsday," "Cloud of Doom" and "Black Sunday."